Community
As a result of lobbying from the Farnley Tyas Community Group, Kirkburton & District Parish Council kindly donated a Village notice board, which was manufactured by Roebuck and Holmes Limited. It was erected next to the Golden Cock pub on the cobbled area around the former water fountain, with the permission of Farnley Estates Limited and is very much used by the village.
A very successful “Village Event” was held in 2009 which included a try bowling event, a walking quiz around the village ending with tea and cakes in the Church along with a Children’s Church trail. The highlight of the day was the school barbeque, which was very well attended. On Sunday there was a Festival Service, which was attended by many from the village including The Chairman of Kirkburton Parish Council, with a contribution from school children. Rev’d Cannon Tony McPherson who preached. A further Village Event is planned for 2010 over the weekend of July 9/11 to include a Scarecrow display.
A Farnley Tyas Community Website was designed and this contains agenda and minutes of the Farnley Tyas Community Group meetings along with current news relating to the village.
The re-ordering of the Church is well underway with Phase 1 being completed with the removal of pews from the back of the Church. Phase Two involves ideas for the future use of the Church and a Steering Group has been set up to this end to organise requirements.
Farnley Tyas Community Group has been successful in re-instating the Neighbourhood Watch scheme within Farnley Tyas with the co-operation of West Yorkshire Police and their PCSOs; a number of co-ordinators appointed within the Village to oversee this initiative.
Following a huge issue of dog fouling on the paths within Farnley Tyas, a simple solution of providing a container with free bags has been very successful. Further areas will be targeted with a view to eliminating this problem.
Additional bins have been installed around the village to encourage people to dispose of their litter and clean up the area.
FTCG has been liaising with Punch Taverns regarding the status of the village pub to urge them to appoint a suitable new landlord to re-instate the reputation of this focal point within the village.
Development and Environment
Kirklees Planning Services has informed the Community Group Committee that it will prepare a Conservation Area Appraisal for Farnley Tyas which, as well as being a reference point, will help with the preservation and enhancement of the Conservation Area, and could be used in conjunction with the forthcoming LDF. The Committee has provided some initial points for consideration by Kirklees. We have commented for example about concerns with development, introduction of traffic calming, new street furniture and new stone footpath surfacing.
Farnley Tyas Community Group has been liaising with Kirklees Leisure Services to update the changing rooms at the Recreation Ground. Agreement was reached that the following would take place, which is an excellent result. Following, this FTCG intends to plant up an area of shrubbery and install additional seating for visitors and residents.
• A toilet to be installed into the changing room and if necessary have a septic tank installed
• The entrance to the changing rooms will be paved
• Facia boards will be stained and the entrance door will be painted and smartened up
• The small window above the door to be replaced with frosted glass
• Trellis to be put over the two bricked up windows for FTCG to plant evergreen shrubbery against
• A new gate at the entrance of Recreation ground to ensure the area is safe for children.
• New entrance half way up Thurstonland Road for cutter access for safety away from the children’s playground
Farnley Tyas Community Group petitioned Kirklees Leisure Services and Farnley Estates to have the badly dilapidated wall on Butts Road rebuild. This was achieved by way of a Stone Walling Training event carried out in the autumn of 2009, which was an event where everyone won.
Also, the wall abutting the children’s play area at the Recreation Ground, which had been broken down for a long time, has now been repaired to ensure the safety of the children.
Farnley Estates Liason
The FTCG Estates Liaison Group is working to promote understanding and improve communications between Farnley Estates Limited and the Farnley Tyas community.
Communications are ongoing with Farnley Estates Limited and local bodies about their proposals for change to the farms within the Village. A draft Farnley Tyas Framework Proposal (FTVF) was prepared by Dacres' Planning for the Farnley Estate with a six week consultation period late in 2009. Farnley Tyas Community Group (FTCG) subsequently understood from Farnley Estates that there was very little feedback from the residents of the village.
As this consultation period fell over the very busy Christmas and New Year interval, FTCG asked for a fourteen day extension as it was felt that more detailed feedback was required from the householders in the village with regard to their own opinions on the proposal.
The FTCG committee then produced a simple questionnaire and over the weekend of January 9/10, during poor weather conditions, visited residents to ask the following questions and gain feedback for Farnley Estates on the proposal. The overall feeling was one of apprehension and noticeably conveyed that there was a lack of clarity on the development proposals in view of the importance of the formal adoption of the SPD to become part of Kirklees LDF.
The responses from the doorstep seemed to be in line with those from the original questionnaire carried out two years ago, and support the Farnley Tyas Community Plan 2008.
The main pointers were:-
• Poor consultation with residents and lack of comprehensibility of the plans
• The number of new houses proposed is still a major issue
• Traffic congestion is of general concern
• The loss of farming based on the centre of the village is raised by a number of respondents
The results were forwarded to Farnley Estates and Dacres with copies to local Councillors and Kirklees Planning. Further information is now awaited
Working with Farnley Tyas School, Kirklees Rights of Way and Farnley Estates a footpath has been agreed to provide a “Ride and Stride” footpath through School Wood, with gates at both ends. Kirklees Council has provided funding for this and once completed its Rights of Way will take over from Farnley Estates, the responsibility of the path.
FTCG is liaising with Farnley Estates regarding the provision of a car parking area off Honley Road, which both the Governors of the School and the FTCG are supporting. There is a discrete level area abutting the bottom of School Wood, adjacent to the School which does not have any ancient trees which would facilitate School parking and also for those attending Church. Farnley Estates has said that it shall certainly consider this in relation to the overall plans for Farnley Tyas and the timeline will very much depend upon what is agreed for the whole village plan.
Traffic and Transport
In early 2008, residents concerns about traffic were raised with Kirklees Highways Department. FTCG has negotiated with Kirklees Highways for two build outs to be provided in the village in the hope to slow down the traffic. This work will be completed along with road re-surfacing in March 2010. New signage of the village is under negotiation. All efforts to gain a 20 MPH status for Farnley Tyas village continue.
In liaison with FTCG, Kirklees Highways has installed a new drainage system to resolve the flooding issue in the Recreation Ground and Thurstonland Road. In addition, build out areas have been constructed, in agreement with residents, to protect the houses in Butts Terrace from skidding cars running into their walls.
Clearance and upkeep of footpaths is an ongoing project and FTCG works with Kirklees Highways on this maintenance work. FTCG has submitted a request to Highways for re-instating the footpath down Woodsome Road; this is a large project and is down for work in 2010.